Books STAR WARS: AFTERMATH

Spoiler

So, what do you guys think of the dark side having a source, and it being something physically located beyond the known galaxy?

I never got the sense even in the movies that the Dark Side was something external. I always thought, from the characters' own words, that it came from the negative feelings/thoughts/actions of individual lifeforms. That it came from things like fear, anger, hatred, destructive passion, selfish attachment, despair, malice, the urge to dominate others, jealousy, envy, murder, etc.

Or are they saying there's something that causes that in all life, that exists outside of living beings?
[/spoler]

 

Spoiler

Yeah, the book apparently implies they mostly went into hiding. Then again, we don't know if that means Executor-like ships or smaller as well.

Spoiler

Given we saw a planet in TCW where all elemental life came from, it would stand to reason there would be an opposite, a planet where death is focused, as a yin/yang effect. Maybe the Sith tried to make Korriban/Moraband into an artificial version of this phenomena, by sacrificing so many in one place and laying their fallen Lords there?

Having a planet that symbolizes the end of all things would add to the "Force as a stream" metaphor. We have the beginning (unnamed Force planet at the center of the galaxy), a fulcrum (Mortis, where the Force flows through on its journey and is intensified/focused) and this third, nameless end of the stream beyond the edge of the galaxy itself...

 

That's the impression I've had from the spoilers as well.

Spoiler

As if Palpatine didn't know where this world was, then it sounds like Korriban was just the home of the people who worshiped that "Dark World", and shaped Korriban in its image, but that Korriban was not the original source itself. Sort of Korriban was to the Dark World what Tython was to the Midichlorian World, and just the Sith (or Jedi) Order's homeworld, but not the actual metaphysical foundation stone itself... or something.

 

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Maybe they'll add some fantasy to the cosmology and have the galaxy itself shaped that way because the Dark Side-source is the darkness of space outside the rim swirling around the life-giving center. So it wouldn't be a planet, but just the plane itself, tugging and pulling on the galaxy, while the center is calm and serene, like the Jedi ideals?

 

Spoiler

What happened to that being a metaphor, more of a mental journey, that Artoo didn't even sense?

And is the opposite really death? That's not the dark side.

 

So without spoilers, have those who've read this book enjoyed it so far? How does it compare to the rest if the new canon?

 

Spoiler

The only thing that ever implied Korriban to be the source of anything was that it was said to be the homeworld of the Sith species in the 2003-2014 EU. Otherwise, Korriban was never anything more than the Sith's Tython.

 

This is what I want to know as well. If you've read it, without any spoilers, did you think it was good, meh, or bad?

 

Spoiler

I suppose this could be where Lucas's idea of "cancer" when it's out of balance comes in? That death is a natural part of life, yin/yang, etc, etc, but that the Sith take it to an extreme, overdoing it, killing, killing, killing, making Korriban itself actually the place that's cancerous and out of balance, but "Dark World" itself not inherently evil but just very, very seductive to the wrong people: "Yay! Planet of Death! I can use that to do bad, bad things!!!!!!!!"

 

The dark side is not death.

It's selfishness, and all that comes with it: attachment, fear, anger, hate, etc.

Spoiler

Death does not have a home world.

 

Spoiler

I wonder if Snoke is the Shaman of the Whonts. Maybe Kylo (or whoever starts the Knights of Ren) finds Snoke on Dark World.

 

That depends what you're referring to when you say "dark side" though Ghost

From an individual perspective of the person using the Force? Sure, it's that. But in the natural role of yin and yang in the cosmos, if Midichlorian World that Yoda visited embodied the light, birth and creation, then the opposite number would be a world that embodies darkness and death. But that doesn't mean it has to be full of fear and hate. Death is a natural part of life, but it wasn't something on that world Yoda went to-- that was the light at the dawn, not the darkness at the end of the journey.

Personally, I really, really hope they get away from this annoying idea that "darkness" needs to be seen as a negative concept all the time. Sure, the Palpatines would bask in death being such a powerful, evil, hateful, fearful thing, but... death doesn't have to be something scary, and I never felt the dark side's role on Mortis when the plants died away at night, only to be reborn again in the light the next morning, was meant to inherently be saying the darkness was full of hate, it just was out of balance and in overdrive.

 

Spoiler: Literally in ESB

"There's something's not right here. I feel cold... death..."

 

Just caught up on this thread.

 

Spoiler

All my Force power speculation must be influenced by Dark Souls lore. I've played that game too much. It even has an abyss of darkness with some weird people and unseen creatures living in it. Even if "it" isn't a concrete thing, just someplace where they forgot to turn on the lights.

Sorry for the digression.

 

But the dark side isn't part of the yin yang of the universe. The living/unifying aspects are the yin/yang.

The dark side is the imbalance. Natural darkness isn't, but the dark side was never natural darkness, it was "unnatural."

Yoda went to a world where midichlorians are generated (which could have been a metaphor, but apparently isn't). But it still wasn't the origin of light or creation.

Extending life is dark side. Accepting death is "light side."

Yoda: Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is.

Yoda: Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.

Palpatine: The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.

 

Spoiler

And yet, the cycle on Mortis showed the siblings in harmony. The Daughter created life and brought the day, the Son destroyed it and brought the night. Even with this, we see weird Force spirit trees at night. Symbolizing the plants being taken up into the Cosmic Force, maybe?

The Father even tested Anakin by having him "tame" both the Son and the Daughter, dark and light.

Even the ancient symbols in the Jedi Temple on Ilum and Lothal and the Father's sanctuary on Mortis showed them both being influence by one another. The Dark inside the Light and vice versa.

 

In the first episode on Mortis. (and you really don't need spoiler tags for this discussion.)

In the second episode, the siblings were out of balance. The son had destroyed the balance.

The Father says that the Son has now "fallen to the dark side." Showing that the darkness is not the same as the dark side.

And then balance is only restored when the Son is killed.



EDIT:

And like I said above, in Episode III, we see that

* the DARK SIDE is about creating and extending life

* while the Jedi are about accepting death, and accepting the light/darkness, yin/yang of the universe

 

And yet he represented the Dark Side all along. Which is evident from everything in the first episode. And these databank quotes:

"The Son was an embodiment of the dark side of the Force who dwelled on Mortis during the Clone Wars with his sister, the light-sider known as Daughter, and the powerful Force user known as Father, who tried to keep them in balance."

"The Daughter of Mortis is a Force-wielder who aligns herself with the light side of the Force. An enigmatic being of tall stature who can transform into a griffin, she is the selfless counterpoint to her brother, the Son, who has allied himself with the dark side. Together they provide balance to the Force, a balance maintained and channeled through their Father."

"In the mysterious realm of Mortis there exists a trio of beings able to wield the Force in ways no known mortals of the galaxy can. The Father maintained balance between his Daughter and his Son, who expressed affinity to the light and dark side of the Force, respectively."

If anything he let himself be consumed by it.

You also literally ignored Luke's sense of death when he sensed the cave of evil. "That place… is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is."

 

Yes, Luke sensed death. But that doesn't mean all death is evil or dark side. As Yoda himself would say.

The Son only "falls to the Dark Side" during that episode trilogy. He represented darkness on Mortis all along. But the second and third episodes show his fall to the dark side is a new thing.

Dark Side =/= Darkness
Dark Side =/= Death

The whole point of Episode III and Anakin's turn to the dark side is how you can fall to the dark side by wishing to cheat death, while being on the good/light side is about accepting death.

 

The father saying that the son, who was explicitly stated to be the living embodiment of the dark side, had fallen to the dark side, was maybe the stupidest thing of the whole Mortis storyline for me.

 

Well, Dr. Brule, we know there are darksiders who can "maintain" control of themselves, at least according to Asajj Ventress when talking of the Nightsisters.

 

Was he ever explicitly stated to be the living embodiment of the dark side of the Force?

And if so, wouldn't killing him have killed the Dark Side, then?

That's the databank. Not really the most official.

And even that says the Son was "an" embodiment of the dark side. Just like Vader, Palpatine, and other dark side users were.

Similarly, the Daughter was merely "aligned" with the Light Side. The Son "allied himself" with the dark side. And we see he only falls to it completely during the episodes.

 

I think much of the problem with all this is the fact the phrase "dark side" gets used for two purposes.

Maybe they need to bring back Dark Side with a capital D to differentiate from the dark side with a little d.

 

Now you're literally bs-ing us.

"The dark side of the moon." "Oh no, it's influencing an entire hemisphere!"